──[ 嘆きの森 ]── kalon tryout

[riddlestyx]

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tryout form for this kalon
please dnp!
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[riddlestyx]

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the trees whisper your name.
you've come to learn the forest is your friend.
your only friend.

yousei is a reclusive sort. for as long as he and anyone else can remember, he's dwelled alone in the forest, living amongst the trees and grasses and open air. the forest welcomes him like a child; it guides him through its gnarled undergrowth with flickering wisps and fluttering leaves. it blesses him with abundances of food and crop. it warms him at night with blankets of shrubbery, welcoming him into the little dens and caves that hide beneath the tree's roots for protection from the chilled wind.

he's learned and adapted to every little mannerism of his enchanted home. the ground and mists radiate with a magic he could never hope to harness, yet for some reason it favours him above all other creatures. their delicate relationship is not even understood by yousei, but he has grown to appreciate it for its entirety. without it, he would have perished long, long ago. yousei's body has endured hundreds of years of life, made possible only by the nurturing magic of the forest that preserves his being. yousei recognizes this as a double-edged sword: he can live for as long as he pleases in the woods, but should he ever leave, he would descend back into the cycle of mortality.

as a result of yousei's hermit-like behaviour, the company of other kalons is a foreign concept. the only company he needs is the birdsong in the morning, the trickle of the stream over rocks and gravel, the sway of the leaves overhead in the cool autumn air. he's been shaped into a rather apathetic individual; his demeanor rarely betrays the little emotions he experiences on a day by day basis.

this does not make yousei a cruel being. while he tends to push others away and avoids contact with other kalons to the best of his capabilities, he does this mostly to their benefit. yousei... knows things. he knows several things about the village folk who inhabit the lands bordering his precious forest. he fears the consequences that would surely ensue if they were to ever discover such secrets. thus, his logical conclusion is to distance himself as much as possible. ironic, really, when he's perhaps the one kalon who knows the most about every little intimate detail of their lives.

learning is invaluable to yousei, and in all his long years of living he's never once stopped in his pursuit of knowledge. no matter how old one becomes, he believes, there is always more and more to learn about the world. truly, it's the only thing that keeps him from losing his mind to the boredom of centuries of life in the same neverending forest.

[ 448 words ]xxx

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[riddlestyx]

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he woke up just like any other day.

the dawn chorus beyond his modest hut resounded clearly within his ears, rousing him from his night slumber. yousei rose from his bed, and began his daily morning routine. he fed and dressed himself, tended to the garden, sprinkled seed for the morning birds, and embarked on a walk with a woven basket slung over his shoulder. his berry supplies were running low, and he figured a quick foraging trip should do the trick to get things back in order.

he trailed down the path he typically followed for such a task. the shrubs along his journey yielded a plentiful harvest; the forest seemed to be rewarding him rather highly that morning. somewhere along his trek, he stopped by a familiar creek to refresh himself with the cool, running water. he crouched down next to the stream's bank and splashed his face with a handful of the crystalline liquid.

when he looked up once again, he paused. something had managed to catch his eye. from somewhere across the stream, a faint light glimmered beneath the current. setting aside his basket, he stepped carefully over the gentle ripples and knelt next to this shimmering object. he reached for it, but his hand hesitated before submerging itself beneath the water. a tangible aura radiated against his palm; it felt wrong, as if this was not for him to discover-- perhaps it was a warning? but yousei refused to let this secret escape him. he snatched up the item, and without even bothering to retrieve his berry basket, he sprinted back home.

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yousei spent several days studying that object. he discovered it to be a gem of unknown origin; its surface shone with a remarkable illumination that was almost blinding to gaze upon. he was incapable of studying it for longer than a few moments, else his vision began to blur and his head began to swirl. he'd never seen anything quite like it, and yet he could hardly learn its full potential.

it was beyond frustrating for yousei. he kept the stone hidden away in a bundle of blankets for many days until his curiosity could no longer be quelled. he uncovered it for a moment, then gazed into the stone's magnificent light. even as he felt his eyes well with tears from regarding the brilliance, he refused to look away. that was when he first saw a vision. as the stone's light washed out his surroundings from view, initially all he saw was white. then shapes began to amalgamate within the nothingness. he thought it to be his vision returning to him, but then the scene grew clearer and clearer, and other creatures morphed into view. they were talking to one another, their faces filled with cheer and unwavering friendliness as they mingled amongst a gathering of houses and other buildings.

several minutes of this viewing passed, and nothing seemed to make sense. yousei could still move his body-- he could tell he was still in the confines of his hut-- but it was as if his eyes were replaced and gazing down upon a setting far beyond the borders of the forest. as if he was some deity studying his subjects.

when the reality of the situation began to set in, yousei instinctively dropped the stone from his grip. he squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing fervently at his burning corneas and trying to make sense of what had happened. the stone had shown him a vision of sorts-- but why? if he were to look upon the gem again, would he see the same scene? was it a message from someone?

once he opened his eyes once again, the vision was gone. he could finally see the interior of his hut once again, and at his paws gleamed the mysterious stone. he hastily shoved it away into the wrappings of its blanket and stowed it underneath his bed. he would need time to ruminate on this development.

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[riddlestyx]

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the stone soon came to consume most, if not all of yousei's free time. he learned much in the ways of its functions, but exactly what it was showing him remained unknown. the scene would change nearly every time he gazed upon it, though it was typical to see the same individuals across visions. one morning, he witnessed a stern-faced lady manage to hunt down and successfully slay a rather impressively sized deer. she made to display her trophy, but the vision came to an end just after she hung it upon her wall. when yousei allowed himself a peek at the rock after a few days' time, he saw a thief break its way into that woman's home and snatch her treasures-- including the stuffed buck's head.

weeks turned to months, but yousei's usage of this strange artifact did not wane. the subtle changes in his vision went unnoticed for the most part-- the distant leaves on the trees grew blurrier, but not to a worrying extent. at least, not yet. he could hardly be concerned over such matters when a treasure as intriguing as the gem was in his possession.

he used it so extensively it soon became apparent to him what he was viewing. it was an object of foresight. he didn't quite believe it at first, but the signs were too obvious to deny. in some visions, a nasty storm would pour down upon the villages of his visions. in just a few days time, that very storm would roll in from the borders of the forest... from the direction of where a certain town outside the woods resided. soon enough, he knew every little detail of the towns that dotted the landscape beyond his home-- and every little change that was to come in the future days or weeks.

meanwhile, trees grew less distinguishable from one another. the rich colours that typically dressed the canopy and undergrowth of yousei's home dulled and melded masses of snotty green and rustic browns. the hues that dashed across his own clothing and fur became muted... drab.

months turned to years. yousei's eyes weakened. the changes were slow, but he knew what was happening. it wasn't that he was too daft to realize why-- it was that he simply couldn't stop utilizing the gem. for once in life, he didn't feel so lonely, all because of a single, glowing gemstone. he had never realized just how lonely that forest was until that time. a slight yearning blossomed within him. he wanted to meet the people of his visions; he wanted to become a part of their lives just as they had for him. but he couldn't leave that forest. how could he?

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[riddlestyx]

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a young girl began to appear in the gem. she became a frequent sighting, an occurrence that was most ununsual to yousei. he soon learned her name to be mao, a wily and spirited child who held a particular interest in the "haunted" forests beyond her homestead. this wasn’t an uncommon curiosity in the youth of those towns. yousei saw it as charming in its own way, but mao seemed intrigued by the concept of the forest ‘spirit’-- a title yousei had managed to earn through his endless years of inhabiting those dense woods.

does he live all alone out there? she’d ask her parents.
oh yes, dear. that’s what they say. they’d answer.

she wanted to know anything and everything about that mysterious forest spirit. the idea of an existence without friends and company was wildly puzzling to her, but she was determined to get to the bottom of things. as she grew, she studied more and more about what little the townsfolk knew of the creature in the forest. some days she’d sit just beyond the trees’ borders, gazing longingly into the unforgiving undergrowth of the looming woods. never did she try to enter that place.

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it had been countless years since yousei first picked up that gem from the stream. he had managed to curb his usage of it just slightly-- that is, until mao began her regular appearances. when he first spotted her, his eyes were useful for little more than discerning day from night. he was lucky to have memorized the layout of his home, though there were days when his feet tripped over the smallest of bumps and rocks and the most he could do was lay in bed, utterly defeated. utterly tired.

the gem was his only solace. it was far too late to regain what had been lost, and no matter how blurry his vision became, the sights that the stone provided remained clear as day. that was good enough for yousei. good enough to convince him to keep gazing into that blinding light.

there came a day when he finally spotted mao entering the forest. his home. she fled into its rich flora after a particularly rough day spent at home. her eyes were tinted red from the remnants of her crying, and as her legs carried her from her house, they led her straight to the forest without a moment's hesitation.

yousei dropped the gem from his hands upon seeing this. he rose from his bed, gazing down the length of his hut and at the door on the far end of the room. the furniture that dotted the floor were little more than masses of dull brown and grey, but a fiery determination burnt within yousei to find that girl. he lurched off the bed and stumbled his way out of his home to begin the journey across the forest in what would be his first time in weeks leaving his house.

he spent days out there. the trees guided him, emitting faint, glimmering light that even his feeble eyes could still perceive. but the journey was fruitless. he lingered about the area in which he saw her escape to, but nothing. no one came to him. had the stone been wrong? defeated and dejected, he returned home, head hanging low.

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it was late one night that he sat in one of his chairs, flipping through the pages of an aged book held so close to his face that his nose brushed against the parchment. beyond the walls of his home chirped the forlorn songs of crickets, and it was all his ears had to focus on. that is, until a faint sound in the shrubs outside caught his attention. rustling. then footsteps. footsteps? was it an animal, lurking about for prey? yousei set the book down, listening closely to this noise.

many anxious moments passed, then the sound came to a stop. yousei stood from his chair, daring to peer out of one of his windows. pointless. he couldn’t see a damn thing. he pushed the curtains back into place, then wandered over to his bed. he sat down, then another distinct sound echoed within his ears.

knock knock.

upon his door. the faint thudding of a fist knocked methodically on the wood. yousei tensed, unbelieving of what he was hearing. he swallowed thickly, raising once again to his feet and creeping over to his home's entrance.

hello? called a voice. a familiar voice. her voice. she spoke quietly, as if afraid of disturbing the inhabitant of the hut.

yousei debated ignoring her presence. when was the last time he had spoken to someone? was he really fit for something like this? she called out another hello, then more knocks. she's persistent. she must've known someone was in there. yousei couldn't feign absence, not now. he held his breath, then placed his hand around the aged handle of his door, and swung it open.

xxxxxx end.
[ 1943 words ]xxxx

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