Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard

"Start from here, I will be the guide for you all," said Kerberos and walked in front of us.

I saw a building and some cars were parked near it, an eating place, and some small kiosks standing in a row sold snacks and souvenirs. I guess the driver told us the right information that it was a quite popular tourist forest. But Kerberos headed to different direction.

We went into a very thick forest, the soils and the stones were covered with moss. No footpaths or anything to walk through. We used fallen trunks to cross small rivers that were drained up and penetrated into the thick bushes.

The cold was going into my bones. The road was going up. Kerberos walked and jumped easily while Mickey could no the same as that dog. Finally I used a piece of cloth to carry that fat cat on my back, and moved my backpack to the front. It would save time so that I did not have wait for him who kept slipping off.

Around 4 hours we walked, and from a distance we could see puff of smoke. Kerberos said that we would arrive at that place any sooner. And he was right, a few minutes later I saw a minimalist house of tudor style with faded color. The yard was quite big with some white roses and grass was left growing wild.

It did not take long when finally a woman opened that brown wooden door. There was a name board 'Ms. Marie' on it. I assumed her name was Marie and it was her house.

"I want to meet Oka," Kerberos was being straight forward.

That lady took us to a small path heading to the forest. The trees there looked slightly different from the ones we passed by. The leaves were still green despite the fall and there were certain kinds of plants I had never seen before.

When arriving at a pair of trees shaped like a portal, Kerberos asked me, Mickey, and Zie to go in. once I entered that portal, something strange happened.

The two trees were in fact a gate that split our world and another world. It was empty place. There was one only path to go somewhere we could not see yet. Thin haze was blanketing our sights while the weather was quite warm in the cloudy day.

We walked along that path with the woman we met from that house. She was walking ahead of us. The path directed us to a simple shop. A short and fat man was watering the flowers in front of his shop. He looked cheerful. But his expression suddenly changed when he saw us. I wondered why.

"Why are you coming here?" he talked with his hands on his waist. "Do not involve me in problems," he warned. "I know you lost 1 spirit," he gestured us to leave. "I don't want to get involved!" And he went into his shop without asking us in.

Kerberos ignored him. He went into his shop. I did not hear what they were talking about, but after some time that man went out. His eyes were inspecting us.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" He asked.

"I just to leave this boy to you while we are looking for Zarina," Kerberos told him our purpose.

"Zarina?," That fat man suddenly burst into laughing after mentioning that name. "Man, she has died," he said after he could control his laughter.

"Dead or alive, I leave him to you," Kerberos was serious. He asked Zie to come to Oka.

That man was Oka, he was the keeper of realm of in between. He would served to th spirits that came and left. He service given was to clear all the memories someone while he was living in the world.

For those who would be reincarnated, the food was to clear all the memories while he was living in the realm of spirit. Oka did not seem to be interested in Zie, his sight was on me.

"What is her name?," He asked while his eyes were directed to me.

"Tsabitha Youenha," I replied while I bent my body to introduce myself.

"I am familiar with her face," He tried to recall his memory, "Have you ever been here?" he asked again.

"Why are you so stupid?! If this miss has ever been here, she has dead now," Kerberos replied curtly.

"Oh! Really?," He looked even more confused. "I really have ever seen her here several times," he insisted while trying to recall his memory again. He gestured us to go in.

…

A cup of chrysanthemum tea and some pieces of cake were the first food I got since I came home to Euron and met Emma that night. Although I took a bite of the cake and a sip of the tea, I felt very full.

Kerberos told about Zie, the lost spirit and his intention for coming there. Oka was shocked to hear the story. He, who initially paid no attention to Zie, looked at that marionette closely.

Meanwhile, I decided to go out while they were talking. I looked around and my attention was attracted to something black that was crawling like a snail. It was dark black but it looked so beautiful, like a dark night beautified with sparkling stars.

I walked out to see it from no distance. Suddenly a yelling startled me. "Hey! Don't touch it!" when my hand was moving to that creature and that creature was about to reach my hand. I pulled my hand back and walked into the shop.

Oka slapped my head hard before he warned me again. "Do you want to die?!" Don't you care for your life?!" another slapped came to my head.

"Tha, that is Lichen," Said Kerberos. "You don't allow your hand be touched by it. Otherwise, you will be changed into a bird and you will fly in the realm spirit, my place." He explained.

I was shivered to hear it, I almost killed myself.

I looked my surrounding and I saw many Lichens there. They were crawling like snails. Their body was composed of sticky dark liquid with a big and dark hole at the front part, like an eye but empty.

"Lichen has no feeling and cannot think. Their job is to guide you to cross the bottomless canyon to reach the spirit realm I take care." Kerberos walked toward me. "They are not dangerous and don't hurt anyone. But they simply cannot distinguish the dead men they need to help crossing the canyon or the living one like you.. So, you need to be careful with them," Kerberos explained it to me.